Monday, polling has started for four Lok Sabha & ten assembly by-elections across the country, the results of which could control the tone and tenor for the 2019 general elections for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition.

Everyone’s eyes are on Kairana Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh, where a joint opposition will take on the BJP. The opposition hopes to repeat the success of the Gorakhpur and Phulpur by-elections in March in which the ruling BJP suffered unexpected defeats.

Kairana has been in the news over the reported 2016 exodus of Hindu families from the area. Around 630km from Lucknow, has five assembly segments and an electorate of nearly 1.7 million with a significant number of Muslims, Jats and Dalit voters. RLD candidate Hasan said “both Hindus and Muslims live in peace” in Kairana.